jdiben
04-18-2005, 04:32 PM
I have created a small shopping directory for my gift registry website. Will too many outbound links hurt my rankings and/or pagerank? Will search engines view it as a link farm? The site is still new and I am not listed in google yet and I still don't have a pagerank. I would like to implement the directory because I think it would benefit my visitors but I don't want to hurt my chances of a higher ranking in the search engines.
Any thoughts?
ADAM Web Design
04-18-2005, 04:39 PM
It's not the quantity per se...it's the quality.
In other words, if you link to good areas and trade links with reputable sites that are topically related, then you'll be fine.
It's if you trade them with link farms, FFAs, etc. and your own pages become link farms unto themselves that the SEs don't like it.
If you're not sure, just use this simple rule of thumb: "Only hyperlink to a website that is of some use to your end user."
Also, there are a lot of one-way directories and indices, both paid (yech!) and free, that you can submit to. Some are topical and some are general, but a free one-way inbound link never hurts. Focus on those first, and if you're still struggling to get listed, then worry about the two-ways after that.
Note: having your link in your forum sig will help you too as the boards get traversed by Google spiders quite frequently. Keep it there, and keep posting. That will speed up your process, too.
jdiben
04-19-2005, 04:08 PM
Thanks for the reply. Any links that are added will be added with my end user in mind. I have just added the link in my site for my visitors to start using.
Thanks again